Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Information Communication Technology applications in the Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Leisure industries. He is currently the Head of Department Tourism and Hospitality and Director of the eTourism Lab at Bournemouth University in England. Dimitrios is also the immediate past President of the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT). In 2009 he led Bournemouth University successfully through the UNWTO.TedQual Certification Process and is the BU representative to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. In recognition of his contribution, he was elected in August 2009, as a member of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism.

Professor Buhalis is leading eTourism researcher and is working with the Bournemouth team for introducing technology in all aspects of tourism research and teaching. His research area is cutting across a number of disciplines and is looking into adoption of innovations for creating value for both consumers and organisations. Current research focus includes Smart Tourism, SoCoMo Marketing (Social media Context and Mobile Marketing), Augmented Reality, Experience management and Personalisation, Reputation and Social Media Strategies, Accessible and Special Diet (Alergens) Tourism. Close collaboration with industry, governments and international organisations from around the world ensures that results have relevance and impact in the real world whilst constantly pushing the boundaries of knowledge and academic excellence.

Dimitrios has writtena nd co-edited a number of books and published more that 100 articles in scholarly journals, books, conference proceedings and consultancy reports.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis was previously Programme Leader MSc in Tourism Marketing and MSc in eTourism, Reader in Business Information Management and Leader of eTourism Research at the School of Management, University of Surrey. He was also a member of the University Senate (2003-2007) and the University Learning Technology Committee (2005-2007). Until September 2004, he was Course Leader, MSc in eTourism and Director of the Centre for eTourism Research (CeTR). Dimitrios has also been Adjunct Professor at the MBA in Hospitality Management at the IMHI (Cornell University-Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales ESSEC) in Paris since 1997, Visiting Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China and Professor Associado at the University of Aveiro, Portugal in 2004. In 2007, he was also appointed Visiting Professor and Member of the University Assembly at Modul University in Vienna, Austria. He is regarded as an expert in the impacts of ICTs in the tourism industry, the management of tourism distribution channels as well as in strategic tourism marketing and management.

Dimitrios has been involved with a number of European Commission FP5 and FP6 projects and regularly advises the World Tourism Organisation, the World Tourism and Travel Council and the European Commission in the field of information technology and tourism. His latest assignment with Government and Public Sector organisations was to develop an eTourism Strategy for the Egyptian Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt as part of the Austrian Twinning project, whilst he recently completed a project on the development of Hotel School for the Government of Andorra. Dimitrios is still an active tourism practitioner, listing the positions of Marketing Manager and Web master for his family Hotel Segas, Board of Directors of Aquis Hotels and Resorts SA, the fastest growing hotel chain in Greece managing 13 hotels in January 2010; non-Executive Director of yourholidays.com travel agency in his activities. He has also been advising private sector organisations such TUI, Opodo.com, YouTravel.com, on the strategic aspects of their business.

He has a very active role in leading scientific publications and it is one of the most cited author in tourism. He is currently a Member of the Board for Tourism Management; Regional Editor for the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and Reviews Editor for the International Journal of Tourism Research. For ten years he served as Books Editor of the Information Technology and Tourism (ITT) Journal. He also serves on a number of Editorial Boards, included the Current Issues in Tourism; Anatolia-International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research; Journal of International Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Administration, the Journal of Sport Tourism; the Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education; the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, as well as the International Journal of Hospitality Information Technology. He served as Assistant Editor of the “Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research” until its transformation to the IJTR. He was Associate Editor for the Encyclopaedia of Tourism and ICT section Editor for the Encyclopaedia of Hospitality. He is adviser for the Leisure Recreation Tourism Abstracts (LRTA) and Editorial Adviser for several tourism and hospitality publishers.

Dimitrios has served as Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the ENTER’98, ’99, and 2000 conferences on Tourism and Information Technology, as well as ENTER Destinations Chair for 2002 and ENTER Overall Chair in 2003, 2009 and 2010. He has served as Vice President of the International Federation of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism (IFITT) of which he is a Founding Member; Chair of Events and Meetings and a Member of the Executive Committee and Council of the Tourism Society as well as Chairman of the Association of Tourism Teachers and Trainers (ATTT). Dimitrios also served as a Specialist Reviewer in Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation, Sport and Tourism for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the UK (QAA). He was External Examiner for the University of Wales at the Swansea Institute, the University of Greenwich, London and Les Roches Hospitality School in Switzerland. He is currently External Examiner at the Business School of the University of Kent and at Sheffield Hallam University.

Prior to returning to the University of Surrey in 2000, Dimitrios was Senior Lecturer in Tourism, University of Westminster in London, where he was Module Leader for several Tourism, Business, Marketing, and Technology modules. He also played a critical role to the development of the MBA in Tourism and the MSc in Tourism Management at the University, as well as acted as liaison with the industry, and led Departmental research. His industrial experience includes managerial roles in the Aegean tourism industry, as well as 15 years of international tourism and hospitality research and consultancy. For several years he contributed to projects undertaken by the Surrey Research Group, ConTour Consultants at the University of Surrey, UK, and the University of the Aegean in Greece. He has also been involved in teaching, advising, developing distance learning material, external examining or examining research degrees for Universities and other organisations in Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, France, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, Romania, Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, New Zealand, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Indonesia. He has also being assessing research applications for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the COMET Programme (Competence Centres for Excellent Technologies) in Austria.

Dimitrios graduated in Business Administration from the University of the Aegean in Greece, where he was also a Researcher specialising in Tourism and Technology. He gained his MSc in Tourism Management (with Distinction) and PhD (in Tourism Management and Marketing) degrees from the Department of Management Studies for the Tourism and Hotel Industries, University of Surrey, where he contributed to the teaching, research and international consultancy undertaken by the tourism team. His research concentrated on the impacts of technology on the distribution channels of tourism and the implications for the strategic management and marketing of small and medium sized tourism enterprises in the European periphery. The research was financed by the Surrey Research Group, Contours Consultants, while the field research was sponsored by the Universities of Surrey (UK) and Aegean (Greece), as well as the Greek National Tourism Organisation.

Whenever he finds some free time he goes to the “lab”, as he calls the tourism industry. He plays waiter at his family hotel in Loutraki, Greece as well as he is Non Executive Director of Yourholidays.com. He also loves travelling, swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, exploring local cultures and cuisines. As ex-professional photographer he is a photography maniac.